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Page: << Prev | 1 | 2 | 3 | Next >> The transfusion recipient, whose age and sex were not disclosed, did not have symptoms of the disease and died of other causes.
Another case of transmission linked to a transfusion involved a victim who developed symptoms of the disease six-and-a-half years after receiving a transfusion. In that case, the donor developed symptoms three years after the donation and died of vCJD.
Because of the potential risk, the United States does not accept blood donations from people who spent at least five months in Europe since 1980 or who spent three months in the United Kingdom between 1980 and 1996.
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No human equivalent of mad cow disease has yet been found to have originated in the United States, but three BSE-infected cows have been identified.
For the new study, Edinburgh-based researchers engineered mice to carry one of three different human gene variants, known as MM, MV or VV. Among Caucasian humans, 50 percent of individuals are MV, 40 percent are MM and 10 percent are VV.
All of the human cases of vCJD thus far have been in people who are MM. One person who tested positive for prions but died of other causes was MV.
"As far as clinical cases, being MM seems to be a particular factor of susceptibility," Lasmezas said. It had been thought -- or hoped -- that other gene variations were less susceptible. The MV person, she added, "was the first hint that MV people might be susceptible."
The researchers then inoculated the engineered mice, along with mice which had bovine genes, with either vCJD or BSE.
BSE was transmitted to the bovine line but not to the human lines; vCJD, on the other hand, infected all three human lines.
"This means that as far as we can extrapolate to humans, which is something we always have to be careful with, all genotypes allow infection so all humans could be potentially infected if they have been exposed to a sufficient amount of the infectious agent," Lasmezas said.
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